Judge Lourdes A. Rodriguez de Jongh

FY 2018 - 2023, Miami Immigration Court

Published Oct 19, 2023

Judge Rodriguez de Jongh was appointed as an immigration judge in March2008. She received a bachelor of arts degree in 1976 from the University of Miami and a juris doctorate in 1988 from the University of Miami School of Law. From 1995 to March 2008, Judge Rodriguez de Jongh served as an immigration attorney in private practice in Miami and Tucson, Arizona. During that time, from September 2001 to April 2002,she worked as a staff attorney with the Asylum Program of Southern Arizona in Tucson. From 1991 to 1995, Judge Rodriguez de Jongh served as a staff attorney with the Legal Services of Greater Miami American Immigration Lawyer Association Pro Bono Project. She is a member of the Florida Bar.

Deciding Asylum Cases

Detailed data on decisions by Judge Rodriguez de Jongh were examined for the period covering fiscal years 2018 through 2023. During this period, court records show that Judge Rodriguez de Jongh decided 437 asylum claims on their merits. Of these, she granted asylum for 105, granted 9 other types of relief, and denied relief to 323. Converted to percentage terms, Rodriguez de Jongh denied 73.9 percent and granted 26.1 percent of asylum cases (including forms of relief other than asylum).

Figure 1 provides a comparison of Judge Rodriguez de Jongh's denial rate each fiscal year over this recent period. (Rates for years with less than 25 decisions are not shown.)

Nationwide Comparisons

Compared to Judge Rodriguez de Jongh's denial rate of 73.9 percent, Immigration Court judges across the country denied 60.6 percent of asylum claims during this same period. Judges at the Miami Immigration Court where Judge Rodriguez de Jongh decided these cases denied asylum 85.3 percent of the time. See Figure 2.

Judge Rodriguez de Jongh's asylum grant and denial rates are compared with other judges serving on the same court in this table. Note that when an Immigration Judge serves on more than one court during the same period, separate Immigration Judge reports are created for any Court in which the judge rendered at least 100 asylum decisions.

Why Do Denial Rates Vary Among Judges?

Although denial rates are shaped by each Judge's judicial philosophy, denial rates are also shaped by other factors, such as the types of cases on the Judge's docket, the detained status of immigrant respondents, current immigration policies, and other factors beyond an individual Judge's control. For example, TRAC has previously found that legal representation and the nationality of the asylum seeker are just two factors that appear to impact asylum decision outcomes.

The composition of cases may differ significantly between Immigration Courts in the country. Within a single Court when cases are randomly assigned to judges sitting on that Court, each Judge should have roughly a similar composition of cases given a sufficient number of asylum cases. Then variations in asylum decisions among Judges on the same Immigration Court would appear to reflect, at least in part, the judicial philosophy that the Judge brings to the bench. However, if judges within a Court are assigned to specialized dockets or hearing locations, then case compositions are likely to continue to differ and can contribute to differences in asylum denial rates.

Representation

When asylum seekers are not represented by an attorney, almost all of them (80%) are denied asylum. In contrast, a significantly higher proportion of represented asylum seekers are successful. In the case of Judge Rodriguez de Jongh, 9.6% were not represented by an attorney. See Figure 3. For the nation as a whole, about 15.7% of asylum seekers are not represented.

Nationality

Asylum seekers are a diverse group. Over one hundred different nationalities had at least one hundred individuals claiming asylum decided during this period. As might be expected, immigration courts located in different parts of the country tend to have proportionately larger shares from some countries than from others. And, given the required legal grounds for a successful asylum claim, asylum seekers from some nations tend to be more successful than others.

The largest group of asylum seekers appearing before Judge Rodriguez de Jongh came from Guatemala. Individuals from this country made up 44.6% of her caseload. Other nationalities in descending order of frequency appearing before Judge Rodriguez de Jongh were: Honduras (25.9%), Venezuela (10.1%), El Salvador (8.0%), Cuba (3.9%). See Figure 4.

In the nation as a whole during this same period, major nationalities of asylum seekers, in descending order of frequency, were El Salvador (16.6%), Guatemala (15.1%), Honduras (13.8%), Mexico (9.2%), China (6.8%), India (5.1%), Venezuela (3.2%), Ecuador (3.1%), Cuba (2.4%), Nicaragua (2.3%), Brazil (2.0%), Colombia (1.4%), Cameroon (1.4%).